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The global climate agenda of transitioning the world to ‘zero emissions’ has taken a serious setback, as five European nations have opted to reject a major emissions goal.
“Italy, Portugal, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania want to delay a European Union plan to effectively ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2035 by five years,” Reuters reported.
“The policy is a key pillar of the EU’s plans to tackle rising transport emissions and speed the shift to electric vehicles, as the bloc strives to cut economy-wide net greenhouse gas emissions 55% by 2030, from 1990 levels,” the report added.
The five European nations’ admitting that the climate goals are not currently feasible is a wake-up call reminiscent of the EU members’ overreliance on Russian gas. After the EU banned Russian gas importants, member nations have been substituting their lost energy with Russian coal.
The EU’s ban on Russian coal is set to take effect in August. However, Germany, Austria and Hungary are opposed to such bans on Russian energy imports, despite the war. These nations argue that banning energy supplies could have a bigger impact on their own economies than on Russia’s economy.
“The original plan was to phase out coal imports within three months,” an EU official told CNBC in April. However, the same official added that “this period had now been extended to four months — bringing the full implementation of the ban to August.”
“There seems to have been an effective German lobby to extend the phase-out period for existing coal contracts to four months,” a second EU official confirmed to CNBC.
The Russian oil and gas bans have disrupted and constricted the global energy markets, adding to the pain at the pump in nations around the world, such as the United States.
As America surged past a $5 national average for a gallon of gasoline, the Biden administration has proposed ethanol as a solution. The Environmental Protection Agency earlier waived a limitation on ethanol in gasoline blends due to its association with leading to more smog at higher temperatures.
But as Biden lauds the potential of ethanol and other biofuels, notably amidst a major surge in food prices, there are official studies that connect ethanol not only to more pollution, but also to higher carbon emissions.
The global environmental agenda is reflective of Western elites inventing a ‘first work problem’ that can be jettisoned at the first sign of trouble. It makes for a ‘holy cause’ that secular progressives can invoke at cocktail parties, before setting off in their gas-guzzling limousines on the way to their private jets.
When the green cause threatens the economic fortunes or political survival of elites, it becomes an easy thing to be jettisoned in favor of a more pragmatic approach. If there’s any real pain or need for sacrifice, the elites betray that they don’t really believe in the green agenda. The ruling class would behave much differently if they believed the fate of the world hung in the balance. It’s just a cynical means to their political ends.
Yet the worst may be yet to come for the Biden climate agenda. The Supreme Court is poised to hand down a decision that could negatively affect the authority of the EPA to regulate the ‘climate.’ That ruling could be handed down as soon as Monday.
In February, a federal judge blocked the Biden administration’s attempt to “put greater emphasis on potential damage from greenhouse gas emissions when creating rules for polluting industries,” the AP reported.
“The judge issued an injunction that bars the Biden administration from using the higher cost estimate, which puts a dollar value on damages caused by every additional ton of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere,” the report added.
A Supreme Court decision reining in the Environmental Protection Agency would be a devastating blow to a Biden regime that has pushed its radical agenda on the American people using bureaucratic fiat. The Supreme Court is signaling a return to Constitution-based “democracy,” where the people and their representatives set the national agenda, rather than authoritarian and corrupt elites.
As seen on Becker News. Follow Kyle Becker on Twitter or Telegram.
Current Founder, CEO and Chief Editor of Becker News. Former Writer & Associate Producer at Fox News for #1 top-rated prime-time cable news show. Former Director of Viral Media and Senior Managing Editor for award-winning startup website IJReview, which grew to a readership of 20-30 million Americans a month. Led editorial and social media team that was #1 ranked news & politics publisher on Facebook for story engagement. Writer whose thousands of digital articles have been read by over 100 million unique users.